Nosocomial outbreak of Pseudomonas aeruginosa endophthalmitis.

We describe an outbreak of nosocomial endophthalmitis due to a common source, which was determined to be trypan blue solution prepared in the hospital's pharmacy service. We assume that viable bacteria probably gained access to the trypan blue stock solution during cooling after autoclaving. The temporal cluster of Pseudomonas aeruginosa endophthalmitis was readily perceived on the basis of clinical and microbiological findings, and an exogenous source of contamination was unequivocally identified by means of DNA fingerprinting.